Where The Wild Things Are
by Naomilyloveless
Summary: Mr Schue takes the glee club camping, leaving Santana torn between her head and her heart. The great outdoors aren't for everyone...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My first venture into the world of Glee fanfiction, I'm stepping out of my Grey's Anatomy comfort zone so I can only hope I did ok, I haven't proof read this yet but will fix any errors later on. Love it or hate it, let me know :)**

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><p>"We're going on a camping trip!" Mr Schue's annoyingly, over enthusiastic voice echoes in my head as I gather my essentials together. Why we have to do this at all puzzles me, but why we have to do it with a 6am start is just utter insanity. He claims he wants us to bond or reconnect or something, seriously, I kind of think he's lost it this time, we only have 13 members in glee club to begin with and let's face it, we're about as close as we're going to get, I mean, I've gone from hating pretty much everyone in that club to just mildly detesting Rachel, which in itself is an achievement. I still keep my home made voodoo doll of her close by but I'm less inclined to stab it with pins on a daily basis. Besides, it's the first weekend of summer and I can think of a million better ways to spend it than being holed up in a tent for the next three days in some wanky forest trying to 'reconnect' with ourselves.<p>

I hear my mother call peevishly from downstairs for me to hurry up, she's none too impressed with having to get up at this ungodly hour on a Saturday morning to drive me to the bus, if Mr. Schue hadn't insisted that this trip was mandatory I probably wouldn't have even mentioned it to her and I certainly wouldn't be hauling my ass to school over summer vacation.

"All set?" She asks with an amused smirk as I allow my heavy rucksack fall to the floor with a thud at the end of the staircase and release a heavy, irritated sigh. I wordlessly pick my bag up again in response and storm to the car.

"You know, you might actually enjoy yourself." She tries half-heartedly through her early morning grogginess, she's actually very supportive of my venture into glee club, hence her refusing to get me out of going, although now that she's forced to get up before the sun has fully risen I'd be willing to bet she wishes she had reconsidered.

"That's doubtful." I scoff back.

We spend the rest of the journey in silence, not because of my bad attitude or complete refusal to find a silver lining in this camping cloud, but because neither of us are good morning people and communicating before 10am is a relatively alien concept in my house.

We pull up to the school and I see most of my fellow glee-clubbers have already assembled near the bus, Rachel of course is up front and even from this distance, seems annoyingly alert.

I genuinely struggle to think how I'm going to stand 3 days of this, I turn to my mom, "Okay, last chance, you can tell them I have mono or something?"

She chuckles dismissively at my plea, "Oh honey, you've had mono so many times it's turned into stereo." I give her a look that's half scowl, half desperate begging, but it's to no avail. "You're _going._" She leans across me and opens my door. "Look, there's Brittany."

I follow the direction she's pointing in and find Brittany pulling clumsily at her own bag in an attempt to pry it from the floor on the passenger side of her mom's SUV, my breath catches momentarily and my heart squeezes tight in my chest, I hate that I feel this way about her, she's my best friend, I know deep down that I'd never forgive myself if my romantic feelings were to ever compromise our friendship, a realisation that had only dawned on me on the last day of school after our discussion at the lockers, this complicated the situation even further and more than anything just gave me a constant headache to think about, so I have decided not to think about it, this weekend's priority was about getting through the next couple of days without going all Texas chainsaw massacre on Rachel Berry.

When she finally releases her bag she spots me, a bright, beaming smile spreads across her face and she waves at me frantically. "Santana." She shouts eagerly as she bounces towards me. "Hey Mrs Lopez." She leans her head in my open door to greet my mother.

"Morning Brittany."

Brittany grabs my hand, barely giving me time to remove my own bag before dragging me from the car, I give my mom a hurried goodbye and stumble to straighten myself. "Slow down Britt." I say as I brush the creases from my dress.

"Sorry. I'm just so excited, are you excited?"

I smile at how buoyant and enthusiastic she is about this venture and I can't bring myself to rain on her parade, so instead I lie. "Can't wait."

"Ah, there they are, our last two campers." It is _way _too early for Mr. Shue's overzealousness right now.

"What's she doing here?" Brittany questions in reference to the presence of our guidance counsellor, not that it's that big of a mystery, she and Mr. Schue have got some weird old people flirting thing going on, it could be cute if it wasn't so disgusting.

"Well, Principal Figgins insists that all off campus overnight activities and field trips have to be supervised by at least two teachers, so Ms Pillsbury has been so kind as to offer to come along." Mr Schue replies with such gratitude in his voice you'd swear she gave us each a bucket of gold.

"Aren't you like afraid of dirt or whatever?" I point out, it's not uncommon for Ms. Pillsbury to tag along on our outings but it's no secret that the woman is a clean freak, I swear I saw her scrubbing a grape with a toothbrush once, I can't exactly see her coping well in a dirty, insect ridden forest.

"I-well- uhm." She stutters as she tries to find someway of explaining her willingness to come that doesn't include 'Mr Schue's a big dreamboat and I wants me somes o' that!'.

"Ms. Pillsbury just has very meticulous cleaning habits, Santana. But this weekend she's throwing caution to the wind in the spirit of having a good time." Shuester swoops in as the ever knight in shining armour.

"Thanks Will." I hear her mumble quietly to which he smiles and winks (ew, old people flirting is majorly gross and unnecessary), before turning his attention back to the group.

"Okay everybody, lets buddy up." He says, clapping his hands together.

Instinctively I reach for Brittany and pull her to my side, much in same fashion as everyone else has chosen their buddies.

"Oh no no," Mr Schue grins in his irritatingly devious, scheming way, "This weekend is about reconnecting, working together to make this group even stronger than it already is. If we want to win at Nationals next year I need to see more comradery."

I look around the group whose faces are equally as confused as I feel, when I notice not everyone's here.

"Uhm, Mr Schue, where's Lauren?"

"Lauren had obligations with the wrestling team which she couldn't miss." He explains which it totally unfair and untrue, I have had more than my fair share of run ins with the wrestling team and know for a fact they wrap up as soon as school finishes for summer. "But that's ok, it balances out numbers so pairing up is easier." I hear him finish when I zone back in. "We're gonna do this a little differently, Ms Pillbury and I have placed all your names into this bag." He says, gesturing to the brown paper bag in the other teacher's hands. "And we will pick at random who gets buddied up with who."

I have an immediate urge to punch the pleased grin off his face but manage to restrain myself as he reaches into the bag to uncover the first pairing.

"Okay, first up we have…. Drum roll please," He directs to Finn who beats lightly on the side of the bus with two pencils. "…Mike and Tina."

I roll my eyes, 'shocker'.

"Emma, would you do the honours of picking our second pair?" He takes the bag from her hands and gently shakes the pieces of paper around inside.

"Kurt and Mercedes." I hear the new pairing giggle with excitement, this whole thing is rigged for sure. I smile to myself, confident that I'll get matched with Brittany.

Ms Pillsbury take the bag once again and offers it to Mr Schue.

"Okay, next up we have… Sam and Quinn." I look in their direction, surprised by the expression I find on Mercedes face as Sam and Quinn meet for a friendly embrace, if I didn't know any better I'd almost think it was, jealousy.

My attention is taken away from the sight however as Mr Schue announces the next buddies, Puck and Finn, they don't express the same level of enthusiasm as the others, just nodding in acknowledgement at each other, Finn, no doubt devastated to not be paired up with Rachel. God, Rachel, she's still waiting for a buddy and for the first time I fear my name being pulled out with hers.

One more shake of the bag, time appears to slow down before I hear the announcement of my name, "Santana annnnnnd…. Rachel." Even Mr Schue's optimism fades at his newest declaration, he looks between us with caution, no doubt aware of my displeasure and Rachel's fear, we hadn't exactly spoken since New York.

He cleared his throat before speaking again, "Which leaves Brittany and Artie." I glare at the two of them as they high five one another.

I honestly don't know what's worse, me getting stuck with Berry or Brittany spending more time with Wheels McGee.

"Let's get this show on the road." Mr Schue calls, unsuccessfully trying to build some momentum within the group. Everyone but Rachel remains silent as they make their way onto the bus, as ever she feels the need to contribute some kind of opinion to me.

"Santana, I know we've had our differences in the past but I really think that we can overcome our problems and work together-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there." I turned, holding my hand up to silence her.

"What?" She queried when I didn't continue.

"Nothing, I just wanted you to stop talking." I concluded before pushing Tina out of the way and taking my seat next to Brittany.

"Everybody ready for a weekend of fun?" Mr Schue tried once again to draw out some enthusiasm, only Rachel and Britt made any acknowledgement, clapping and whistling, which is quickly silenced when a loud bang came from the side of the bus. The bus driver opened the doors to investigate but was knocked aside by a one Sue Sylvester, thundering up the steps, turning her whole attention to Mr Schue.

"Not so fast William, you weren't actually going to leave without me were you?" She questioned as though genuinely offended.

Mr Schue rose from his seat to meet her eye level. "What are you doing here Sue?"

"Why William, there are very few things I enjoy more than a good old fashioned camping trip." She smiled with satisfaction at each of us individually.

"You're up to something." Mr Schue stated, knowingly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, clearly the little elves that live in your hair have been whispering conspiracy theories to you in your sleep, don't be so paranoid." And with that she moved to the seat behind, gesturing for Finn and Rachel to vacate the seat which she then continued to occupy.

"It's gonna be a long weekend." I sighed, leaning my head of Brittany's should and closing my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note at the end (if any of you care to read my ramblings!)**

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><p>The journey to the campsite was reasonably uneventful, not that I would have noticed considering I slept the majority of the way but I take the fact that I hadn't woken to shouting teachers or a dead Rachel Berry to be a good sign, not that I would have complained about the latter but, still.<p>

Mr Schue had tried to encourage us to start a sing song once everyone had woken up but his attempts were in vain and about as successful as his earlier endeavour of making us excited about this trip, the result being a rather painful rendition of 'The Wheels on the Bus' sung by our resident glory hog. Thankfully she was silenced by an orange to the head, maybe having Ms. Sylvester around wouldn't be such a bad thing.

The campsite itself wasn't entirely awful, pretty much what you'd expect from being in a forest, although you'd never think it from the look on Ms. Pillsbury's face, seriously it's a wonder she hasn't started hyperventilating yet.

Once everyone had hauled their belongings and equipment to the small clearing, we gathered on logs situated around a fire pit to await further instruction.

"Okay everybody, Ms. Pillsbury will hand out the itinerary for the weekend, if you'd all please pass them around." Once Mr. Schue was satisfied that we were all alert enough to take orders and had each received one of the laminated booklets, he continued. "Now, we want to start the weekend off with a bang and what better way to get the juices flowing than a friendly… WATER BALLOON FIGHT!" I'm assuming from his enthusiasm he had anticipated a more eager response.

"Oh, c'mon guys, it'll be fun, where's your team spirit?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask Finn and Rachel, they're _all _about the team." I spat bitterly, earning a disapproving look from Mr. Schue which I simply shook off, taking great satisfaction at the guilty expressions that flashed on the named parties faces.

"Allow me to interrupt you there William." Ms Sylvester made her way into the centre of the circle carrying with her a large rucksack, the contents of which clattered intriguingly together.

"What _now _Sue?" Mr. Schue sighed in exasperation.

"I had some time to look over this 'itinerary for toddlers' of yours before we set out on this little adventure and took it upon myself to make some changes." She reached inside the bag positioned at her feet and pulled out booklets almost identical to Mr. Schue's, handing them to Kurt who obligingly passed them around.

"Please note the first alteration William."

"_Paintball? _No, Sue that's too dangerous, someone could get hurt!" I couldn't help but notice the large vein that pulsated at his temple while he berated her, had that always been there?

"Oh pssh William, that's why I brought these protective vests and helmets." She reached into the bag again, this time taking out black plastic vests and what resembled motorcycle helmets, presenting them to us each individually, she handed Kurt a pink bicycle helmet with white daisies and a clear, hard plastic attachment to cover the facial area. "Here ya go porcelain, got you your own custom helmet." She said with a wink.

Kurt pursed his lips before inhaling sharply, "You know, Ms. Sylvestor this is mildly offensive not to mention extremely discriminatory."

Sue smiled smugly, shaking her head before speaking again. "You see that's where you're wrong porcelain, I didn't want the other kids getting jealous so I custom designed a little something for everyone."

For the first time we all took a proper look at the protective gear we'd been supplied with. Each had been marked with some impertinent comment or symbol.

"No, Sue! I'm putting my foot down." Mr. Schue finally objected.

"Actually Mr. Schue, no offence, but paintball does kinda sound more fun than a water balloon fight." Finn interjected; we all nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, water balloons are super lame."

Even Kurt was quick to back us up, "I agree with Finn and Santana, even if these costumes are somewhat… distasteful."

"There you go William, the misfits have spoken."

"You know Will, maybe it's not such a bad idea." Ms. Pillsbury intervened, placing a gentle hand on Mr. Schue's shoulder which seemed to relax him somewhat.

"Fine." He nodded begrudgingly.

After another ten minutes of bickering, the teachers finally agreed to put their differences aside to come up with rules for the game, Sue of course insisted that there should be no rules and that it was only reluctantly she brought the protective clothing assuming that would suffice, Mr. Schue on the other hand was being over-protective and was only short of covering us all in bubble wrap and sending us off to attack one another with water balloons.

While they fought it out the rest of us began pitching our respective tents, Mr Schue had brought along two large tents, one for boys, one for girls. While I resented having to sleep in such close quarters with Rachel, I took some comfort in knowing there would be a safe distance between Artie and Brittany who had hardly left each other's side since we got here. Brittany and I hadn't discussed our situation since the last day of school; to be honest I had pretty much reverted back to my old ways of not talking about my feelings; I could tell Britt was becoming frustrated with me but thankfully she was too good of a friend to push the matter, but I couldn't help but think that maybe my resistance and hesitation was driving her further away from me and right into the arms of Stubbles McCripple Pants.

I sat on a nearby rock as I watched the rest of the girls struggle with random fabric and poles, I was as much of a camping virgin as they were but I was pretty sure they were doing this wrong.

"I don't think that's supposed to go there." I commented while studying my nails.

"You know Santana, you could help." Rachel replied.

"And you could be less annoying but doesn't look like that's going to happen either."

Luckily the boys had a lot more experience in this area and offered to help, which ultimately resulted in them setting up the entire thing.

"Hey." Brittany greeted as she took a seat on the ground in front of me.

"Hey." I smiled back, even these small interactions made my heart thump faster in my chest.

"So, you wanna zip our sleeping bags together like we used to do when we were little?" She asked, I had almost forgotten about that. Back when we were in elementary school Britt and I would always zip our sleeping bags together whenever we had sleepovers, we mostly did this because we were too afraid to sleep alone after watching one of the countless horror movies we insisted our parents rent for us, I knew things were very different now and that such a sleeping arrangement would probably be a little uncomfortable for me given how I felt about her, but Brittany looked so hopeful I couldn't bear to decline so instead I nodded my head 'yes', garnering the brightest smile from my friend as she lifted herself from the ground and encased me in a tight hug which pushed all the worried thoughts from my mind.

"Everyone please gather round." Mr Schue called from the fire pit area, we all moved to our previous positions as he read the recently established rules of the game which included no aiming for body parts not covered with the vest or headgear, we all accepted in order to hurry along the starting of the events although you could tell from the looks on the majority's faces that they were displeased by some of the rules, clearly hoping for a more action packed game.

"And now for the teams, Sue…" Mr. Schue stood aside to hand the floor to our Adidas-clad coach.

"Okay, Team 1, please stand to my left when I call your names," Ms. Sylvester's voice boomed, silencing the few whispering among the group, "Mohawk," she pointed to Puck who sprung to his feet and flexed both biceps while growling, "Brittany," similarly Brittany jumped up, high-fiving Puck as she took up position alongside him, "Asian, other Asian," Mike and Tina smiled at one another, linking their hands and joining the others, "air-bags," this, I knew, was directed at me, a jab at my surgery last summer, I simply rolled my eyes and smiled, feeling delight rush through my entire body at being placed on the same team as Brittany, this happiness was short lived however when the last of our teammates was announced, "Wheels." Artie rolled himself in between myself and Brittany and I couldn't fight the nagging suspicion that this action had been intentional. I brushed it off though once Brittany caught my attention and offered me her pinky finger, she was more perceptive than I ever gave her credit for.

"Team 2, to my right." She indicated to the spot opposite us. "Frankenteen, Gay Kid, Aretha, Quinn, Blonde Kid whose name I don't know and Loud Annoying girl. That's it, go get suited up."

Besides the one thorn in my side, I was pretty happy with the teams, it was going to be a capture the flag type game and while I believed there was no way in hell we could win, I was happy with the knowledge that I was now permitted I shoot at Rachel without repercussions and this cheered me up to no end.

Each team was guided to their base and given 15 minutes to come up with a game plan, the teachers would supervise and play referee should things get too competitive, big guess who's idea _that _was.

"Okay, I'm team captain." Puck announced once we had successfully planted our red flag in the ground.

"How come _you _get to be captain?" I questioned bitterly.

"Because I'm a dude, which means my instincts are better, _and_ I'm a natural born leader." He answered matter-of-factly as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I was about to object but decided against it, we only had 15 minutes to decide on a strategy and my competitive nature was kicking in.

"Whatever." I said nonchalantly waving my hand in the air.

"Okay, Artie and Santana, you stay here and guard the flag."

"Oh hells no!" I immediately I began to argue, "I wants to shoot up some trolls."

Like myself, Puck seemed to want to avoid confrontation. "Fine, Artie and Brittany _you _stay guard, Mike, Tina, Santana and I will head out and-"

"Actually Puck, I think I'd rather stand guard." Tina spoke up for the first time.

Our captain groaned in frustration. "Okay, Artie, Brittany and Tina can stand guard, Mike, Santana and I will go after the flag." This arrangement seemed to satisfy everyone, mostly I was just happy that Brittany and Artie wouldn't be left alone while I went on the prowl.

"I'll go for Sam and Finn, they're our biggest threat but I think I could take 'em." Puck declared as he began to delegate. To avoid wasting more time I quickly spoke up.

"Rachel's mine."

"Okay, Santana you take Rachel and Mercedes and Mike, you're on Quinn and Kurt."

With that we set off in search of victory.

We had no walkie talkies or any means of communication but luckily the teams were located close enough together that we could be heard if we were to shout. Mike, Puck and I stuck close together as we initially set off but as we heard the muffled voices of the others we broke apart but stayed within each other's sight.

Crouched behind a bush, I surveyed the opposing base which was located slightly downhill leaving me in a good position for surveillance. Kurt and Mercedes guarded their black flag, I guess they thought Kurt would be too much of an easy target in his bright pink helmet, Finn kept Rachel close as they set off uphill in the direction Puck was hiding, I wanted to move, knowing I could never get a hit on Rachel from my current position but thought better of it when I heard Quinn and Sam somewhere nearby.

Their conversation was pretty fruitless, just questioning the other's plan for the summer; my attention lasted no more than five seconds, largely due to my lack of interest but also a gun shot and the sound of a paint ball hitting the plastic of a protective vest made every one alert and switch their observations in the direction of the sound. I couldn't see who had been hit from where I was hidden but it soon became evident when Rachel and Finn returned to their base camp, guiding Mike Chang by the arms, Mr. Schue followed close behind and indicated to Mike where he had to sit for the remainder of the game. Just great! We're already a teammate down and the game had just started, this however didn't waver me, in fact, it spurred me on more to win.

I glanced around me and when I was 100% certain that Sam and Quinn had moved on, removed myself from the bush I was hiding in and set off in search of Rachel, I knew the best move was to try and eliminate as much of the competition as possible before going in for the flag, Puck seemed to have the same idea, I caught him out of the corner of my eye moving back into the forest I looked at him and he nodded, approving my plan of action.

20 minutes later, I had drifted a fair distance from both camps but the sound of rustling leaves and murmering chatter indicated that I was on the right track. I jogged a little, keeping mindful of the sound my footsteps might cause, the voices grew louder and I knew I was getting close. I paused behind a large boulder, daring to sneak a peak over it, I had ripe opportunity. Mere feet in front of me stood Rachel, unprotected by Finn who walked cautiously in front of her on the lookout for one of us. I lined up my shot, I knew I had to do it quick and then run because as soon as she was hit, it wouldn't take much longer before he would be hot on my heels. My finger pressed on the trigger with a little pressure, but before I could pull the full way back, my attention was grabbed by a loud shriek coming from the direction of our base.

"SANTANAAAAAAAA!"

I heard a call for Puck and Mike in there somewhere too, but their names faded once it registered whose desperate voice the calls belonged to.

Brittany.

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><p><strong>AN: I realise there hasn't been much Brittana interaction but since this story is only spanning over 3 days I wanted to pace it, I promise from the next chapter onward we'll see more of the girls. If you're reading this, it's much appreciated and I can only hope it's not too awful... I got a decent enough response for the first chapter, not so much in the line of reviews but in Story Alerts and Favourites and I like writing for these characters, but if it sucks, I wouldn't be too offended if someone told me, just means I'd start somewhere new :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I apologize for being MIA over the summer... I can only offer you my sincerest apologies and promise that updates will be more frequent, assuming there's anyone out there still interested in this story? I know I promised a little bit more Brittana interaction in this chapter, but I wanted to form a bit of a pace before rushing into things. So bear with me! :-)**

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><p>Running as fast as my legs would carry me, I sprinted in the direction of Brittany's voice, I had never before been so grateful to Ms. Sylvester for her rigorous training regime which helped me to maintain a strong level of fitness.<p>

Trees and rocks became nothing more than a blur in my quest to reach my destination. My heart contracted painfully in my chest at the mere thought that Brittany was in any kind of distress.

The few minutes it took to reach our base felt like an eternity. I came to a halt, crouched over slightly with my hands on my thighs, gasping deeply, trying to regain my breath.

"Brittany?" I called out through my ragged breaths.

I looked up to find Brittany caught in some type of netting suspended from the branch of a tree near the one we were using to guard our flag. Had it been anyone else in this position I would most definitely have laughed and couldn't deny my slight disappointment that it wasn't Rachel, if it were, I probably would have left her there. But this was Brittany, and the net she was trapped in didn't look very sturdy. I felt my blood boil in anger, watching her tangled in the contraption like a defenceless, hunted animal.

Turning my attention to Artie and Tina, I saw nothing but a punching bag for my fury.

"What are you two doing just _standing _there?" I hissed. "Do you think it's _funny?_"

I could see from the nervous fear in their eyes they knew they would have no answer that would satisfy me and so remained silent.

A few seconds later the rest of our fellow glee clubbers had caught up with us. All struggling to breath after their own sprints.

"What the hell-" Puck began, but stopped upon noticing Brittany's predicament and let out a roaring laugh. I marched towards him and punched him right in the nose, just as Mr. Shue, Ms. Sylvester and sanitizer Sally approached.

Mr. Shue ran towards me, grabbing my fist just as I was about to land another blow to Puckerman's nose, which was already gushing with blood.

"Ok. CALM DOWN!" He tried in his most authoritative voice, pushing me slightly backwards.

"Awh now William," Sue cut in, sounding rather amused by the sight before her, "why'd ya have to go and ruin everything just as it was starting to get interesting?"

Ignoring Ms. Sylvester's comment, I glanced around at my group in disbelief, _why were they all still standing there when Brittany needed help?_

They looked like a bunch of pathetic dears caught in headlights.

"_Well…_ get her down!" I growled at no one and everyone.

Mr. Schuester moved closer to carefully examine it, sighing and turning back towards Artie and Tina.

"How did this happen?" His calm tone of voice pissed me off to no end.

"Britt and I were messing around and she ran over that way and it just…. Came out of nowhere." I wasn't sure what angered me more, how utterly _useless _Cripplepants was or that he had been 'messing around' with Brittany. Obviously I knew it was innocent, how could it have been otherwise with Tina around? But it still rubbed me up the wrong way.

I felt the urge to run and tackle him, hoping to inflict all kinds of pain, but became distracted by the sudden presence of another group of people.

We all unknowingly gathered closer together as the imposters drew nearer. There weren't many of them, six at most, four boys and two girls, all dressed in yellow polo shirts and khaki coloured shorts.

The boys sniggered quietly in the background but it didn't go unnoticed. Now more than ever, I struggled to remember how I had ever even allowed myself to let a boy touch me, the entire gender was abhorrent.

One of the girls, the shorter of the two, stepped forward, a genuine apologetic look on her face.

"I am _so _sorry." She addressed us all before looking up at Brittany.

I took a step forward also, brushing past Mr Schue, causing him to stagger slightly.

"Hold up." I started, raising one hand in the air, informing the stranger I did not want to be interrupted. "This is _your _doing?"

I felt the anger rise to the surface once again. She had about 10 seconds to explain herself before I went _all _Lima Heights."

She shook her head, noting the tone of my voice.

"W-well no, not-not exactly."

"W-W-Well," I mimicked her "You better esplain ya-self before I release that net and use to strangle each one of you to death." My voice was venomous and I was inwardly thrilled that I could inflict such fear, as that expressed on their cowardly little faces, with mere words.

The only other girl in their group moved next to her companion. She was taller, but not a lot, and much prettier, with light brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail and dazzlingly green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. She carried an air of confidence that her comrade lacked.

"We're part of a youth combat training group." She stated plainly.

"A what?" Finn, of course, ever the simpleton, stepped up, dragging his big, hairy, frankenteen knuckles on the ground behind him (okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration).

"A youth combat training group." She stated again, louder and un-amused. Had I not taken an immediate disliking to this group as a whole, I could perhaps have liked her and her brass attitude. "It's not like a military stimulation group or anything… it's just camp, with extreme physical tasks. We're split up into groups to train for a week and then we compete against one another in a series of challenges. It's actually rather fun." Her tone of voice begged to differ, sounding bored, but I was unconcerned, I was still struggling to understand why no one had released Brittany from her tangled web.

"Your friend here seems to have stumbled across one of our booby traps… we set them up for the competition; we weren't expecting company."

I stepped even closer to this bold stranger. "Get her down from there…_now!_"

I noticed the sparkle of fear that invaded her features but she quickly composed herself, returning to her look of indifference. "Let her down guys." She called to the boys standing behind her who acquiesced to her order immediately, though she never broke eye contact with me. We glared at one another, as if daring each other to make another move.

Brittany landed on the ground with a low thud, and I no longer cared to engage in this staring match.

I rushed to Brittany's side, helping her up by her elbows and dusting her off.

"You can _apologize _now!" I barked at the yellow clad group.

The girl I had now decided to be more of an enemy than a potential friend, turned with a smug smirk on her face as if I had just said the most amusing thing she'd ever heard, but her expression changed completely once she set her eyes on us. Her stupid grin faltered into one of an awkward child, her lids drooped along with her gaze which shifted between Brittany and the floor.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"I didn't quite hear you! Speak up!" I snapped, insisting on a decent apology for my friend.

The girl looked straight up and right at Brittany. "I'm sorry." She said more clearly.

Brittany simply shrugged and offered the girl a friendly smile. "S'ok. It was actually kind of fun… like being in a giant bird's nest."

An obvious blush crept onto the stranger's cheeks and I eyed her with curious confusion. He entire demeanour had changed within a matter of minutes.

She cleared her throat and addressed the rest of the group, throwing sneaky glances every so often in Brittany's direction. It made me uncomfortable.

"My name's Teddy." She announced. "And this is Sophie, Blake, Aaron, Toby and Max." She said, gesturing to the group behind her who all saluted in turn. "I'm very sorry about the misunderstanding. Perhaps you'll join us for a barbeque tonight to show there's no hard feelings?"

Mr. Schue extended his hand to Teddy. "I'm Will Schuester and we are the New Directions." His voice rose to an almost cheer when he announced our name. The group looked at him quizzically, urging him to explain. He laughed at the presumption that they would have heard of us and gave them one of, what he thought was, his charming smiles. "We're a high school Glee Club."

The strangers nodded although you could tell they found it slightly odd that a high school glee club and their teacher were out camping in the woods during summer vacation.

"Hold on there William, I don't wish to be included in your introduction of socially awkward and obscenely ugly gaggle of singing seagulls." Sue pushed up front, hands on hips.

Teddy looked at her, clearly amused. "And you are?"

Ms. Sylvester gave the girl an incredulous stare. "I don't need to introduce myself to a bunch of masculine, poorly dressed, tree huggers.."

"We're not-" Teddy began but Sue raised her hand in the air and silenced her.

"This conversation's over." She announced bluntly and with that, turned and headed back towards our campsite.

"Sorry about her." Will apologised. "We'd love to join you for a barbeque, but we're kind of trying to re-connect as a group. Thank you for the offer though."

I can't say I was disappointed with our choir master's declining of their offer. Something about the way this girl kept stealing glances at Brittany, made me uneasy and caused my fists to curl into balls, piercing my palms with my fingernails to avoid screaming for no reason at all, like a tempermental toddler.

"I understand." She nodded. "Once again, very sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused." She turned to Brittany, offering her hand to shake. Brittany didn't do handshakes. She hated formality. Instead, she stepped forward and pulled Teddy into a friendly embrace. I felt a lump form in my throat and my lips pursed together. I could physically feel the daggers I was shooting at the other girl as she buried her face briefly into Brittany's neck.

I couldn't help my reaction, I leaned forward and pulled them apart, dragging Brittany by the hand and setting off in the direction of camp. She stumbled slightly behind me and called goodbye to everyone we left in the clearing.

I decided to take a left just before camp, noticing some water which I assumed to be a lake in the distance.

"Don't wander too far." I heard Ms. Pillsbury call anxiously after us.

I found a flat rock situated under a large willow tree right at the side of the lake. It was a very beautiful spot, and for once since arriving, I didn't want to stick pins in my eyes (or in Rachel Berry).

It was a few minutes before Brittany broke the silence.

"I wasn't hurt, you know." I could tell by how she fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt that she figured that's what had gotten me so hostile back at base.

"You could've been." I stated, but although my voice was a lot calmer than it had previously been, I refused to meet her gaze.

"Are you ok?" I looked up at her for the first time, her stunning blue eyes were filled with concern.

I wanted to smile at her, but the thought of Teddy wrapped in her arms; inhaling her scent, brought a bitter taste to my mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine… just didn't like the way that Teddy girl was all up in your business." I had hoped to make my tone sound indifferent but it came out a lot more hostile than I had intended.

"She wasn't up in my business…."

"Yes she was!" I said a little too quick and frantic, coming out as more of a squeal. Composing myself, I cleared my throat and continued. "I mean, she practically jizz-ed herself when you hugged her."

Brittany's face lit up, her smile slowly forming into a toothy grin. "Santana?"

"Hmmm?" I responded, pulling at the grass next to where we sat.

"Are you… jealous?" She asked the question with caution, knowing how defensive I could get over things like this, although it was less frequent I got like that since she had broken down my barriers and forced me to face my feelings head on.

I couldn't lie to her. I wanted her. More than anything. I wasn't ready to out myself or anything, but Brittany knew how I felt, she knew my secret and there was no point in hiding from her anymore.

Sighing in resolution, I shifted my body to face her, my face serious, I nodded solemnly, though my tone was lighter than my expression.

"Of course Britt. I'm jealous of anyone getting that close to you."

The smile that erupted across her face was enough to make me content for the rest of my life.

"Come on, let's get back to the others." I suggested, offering her my pinkie, which she happily took without hesitation and forcing me to skip back to camp.


End file.
